COLLEGES: MEN'S BASKETBALL; Mouring Steps Forward When He Is Needed

A man of very few words, Albert Mouring made a big statement for No. 6 Connecticut last night.

Mouring, a junior guard, had 20 points to lead the Huskies to a 64-50 victory over Providence at Hartford. It was the Huskies' first Big East home victory of the season, and Mouring emerged as the offensive leader when the junior point guard Khalid El-Amin bruised his right thigh and was lost for most of the second half.

Mouring was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, perfect in four attempts from the foul line, and finished with 3 assists and 5 rebounds.

''Albie did some ball-handling, he made some big shots,'' Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said. ''He grabbed the basketball and showed some leadership.''

UConn (14-4, 3-3) also played most of the second half without the senior forward Kevin Freeman, who took an elbow to the back and sat out with spasms. A few minutes earlier, at the 18-minute-16-second mark, El-Amin collided with Providence center Karim Shabazz and did not return.

The Huskies had lost at home to St. John's and Notre Dame this season and were coming off a 74-88 loss at No. 4 Syracuse.

The Friars (8-11, 1-5) have lost five straight.

NORTH CAROLINA 75, MARYLAND 63

Host North Carolina avoided its first five-game losing streak since 1952 as Brendan Haywood matched his career high with 24 points in a victory over No. 22 Maryland.

The Tar Heels (12-8, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and 7 at halftime, but stormed back in the early portion of the second half to end a miserable stretch of six losses in nine games.

Maryland (13-6, 2-4) made 10 of its first 17 3-pointers, but hit the offensive skids during a 14-0 North Carolina run midway through the second half that turned the game around.

CINCINNATI 75, LOUISVILLE 65

The freshman DerMarr Johnson scored 21 points -- all in the first half -- and Kenyon Martin added 14 as top-ranked Cincinnati beat host Louisville for the sixth straight time.

Reserve David Shelton had 21 points and 8 rebounds, and No. 13 Tulsa (20-1, 5-0 Western Athletic Conference) became the first Division I team to win 20 games this season by beating Texas-El Paso (10-8, 1-4).

Pittsburgh was 0-5 in the Big East and had lost six of seven conference regular-season games dating to last year.

The Panthers (9-8, 1-5) squandered an 11-point lead early in the second half, then regained the lead with a 9-1 run started by Kellii Taylor's 3-point play with 11:21 remaining. Taylor finished the run by making an off-balance catch of a long pass and laying it in.

Zavackas, suspended by Howland amid a school investigation of long-distance telephone calls, later scored 4 successive points to make it 64-57 after Villanova closed to 3 points.

Pittsburgh held off Villanova (10-7, 2-4) despite missing 12 of its 26 free throws in the second half, most over the final five minutes.

CLEMSON 59, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 42

Will Solomon, the Atlantic Coast Conference's leading scorer, had 12 of his 15 points in the second half and host Clemson beat No. 21 North Carolina State to snap a six-game losing streak.

The Tigers (7-12, 1-5) were picked for last in the A.C.C. and have played that way most of the season. But this time, it was the resurgent Wolfpack who missed shots, threw the ball away and committed the costly fouls.

It was the fewest points for North Carolina State (13-4, 4-3) since a 38-36 loss to Princeton on Nov. 12, 1997.

CINCINNATI 75, LOUISVILLE 65

The freshman DerMarr Johnson scored 21 points -- all in the first half -- and Kenyon Martin added 14 as top-ranked Cincinnati beat host Louisville for the sixth straight time.

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A version of this article appears in print on January 28, 2000, on Page D00007 of the National edition with the headline: COLLEGES: MEN'S BASKETBALL; Mouring Steps Forward When He Is Needed. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe